Bluegrass Roadshow Talkshow Ep.002 W/ Riley from Mo Banjo Co.

Check out Mo Banjo Co: https://mobanjo.co

Follow Mo Banjo Co. on Instagram and YouTube at @mobanjoco

In this episode of The Bluegrass Roadshow, Hunter sits down with Riley from Mo Banjo Co. to talk about building a bluegrass community in Salt Lake City, the origin of the “Bluegrass is Cool” mantra, and how backyard sessions are helping artists be artists.

From the growth of Utah’s scene to the magic of the Backyard Bluegrass sessions, Riley shares how Mo Banjo Co. is connecting bands, venues, and fans while keeping the focus on the music. They also dive into the evolving sound of bluegrass, the rise of crossover acts, and why collaboration is powering the genre’s next chapter.

Whether you’re a longtime bluegrass fan or just discovering the scene, this conversation is a great look at the people and passion driving the movement forward.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to the Bluegrass Roadshow. First and foremost, we just want to thank each and every one of you for your support this far, as we couldn't do it without you, and it definitely does not go unnoticed. If you haven't already, please check out our website at bluegrassroadshow.com and be sure to subscribe to the mailing list, as this is the best way to stay up to date with the roadshow and receive exclusive insights as well as a monthly newsletter. Be sure to check out the YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button, as we are always uploading more long-form videos there that aren't quite sufficient for socials. If you haven't already, go check out the first two episodes of the show, including the interview with Ryan and Silas from North War Crossing. This past month we have been focused on keeping the calendar and website as up to date as possible. We are always taking recommendations for new acts and festivals to follow and highlight. So if you don't see one of your favorites, just send us a suggestion there. We have also been editing and uploading all of the media from Rom Bluegrass Festival, which took place back in June down in Owensboro, Kentucky. And we'll be breaking that down more in the next internal episode. We're extremely grateful for everybody involved with Rom for putting on such an amazing event and allowing us to come down there and cover it. Additionally, we put out our first piece of merch designed by a good friend who goes by Jowsley. So go check him out on Instagram, as well as the design itself is on our page. Pre-orders for this have been closed, but we may have printed a few extra. So if anyone's interested, just shoot us a message. It has been a super busy month with all this being said, including preparing for the upcoming Bluegrass Roadshow event that we are putting on with the 65 North Pickers in Fishers, Indiana. At the time of this release, the show was just about five days out, and on Friday and Saturday, August 7th and 8th. It takes place at the Sun King Brewery, less than a mile away from Fisher's Event Center, where Billy Strings will be playing hot bluegrass for three nights. We will have many of your favorite lot vendors, as well as four total sets from these talented young pickers. So if you're around, please stop by. You definitely don't want to miss out. Coming up at the end of the month here in August, we'll be hanging out with our friends from Chromatic Dimension, Tidey, and Dome Swap at the Ionia Freak Fair. We'll be dropping a couple of sweet Michigan-specific merch designs and looking to capture some interviews and meet all the fine folks. So if you're there, please come on by. Now let's go ahead and jump into this week's interview with Riley from Mo Man Joko. Riley is an avid bluegrass lover residing in Salt Lake City, who is building a unique platform to help promote rising bluegrass acts. He has launched the Backyard Sessions, which is an ongoing series of short concerts with different bands performing live and single mics in front of a small, tight-knit audience. You can find these on YouTube at Mobanjoco, as he's just released an amazing episode with our good friends over at 65 North. Riley fancies himself as a connector and networker, looking to be the cornerstone for bringing like-minded individuals together in the Northwest who can help each other grow and bring new faces through their local music venues. I thoroughly enjoyed my time sitting down with Riley and discussing what bluegrass means to him and so much more. I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did. So without further ado, let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, hey Hunter. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, so we're a media somewhat marketing company. We're just trying to figure it out as we go from Salt Lake City, Utah. Um Yeah, we man, we started Mobanjo Company just about a year ago. And when we started just about a year ago, it was building merchandise uh based around the Bluegrass is cool mantra that came to me as my wife and I were out on a hike in Washington State. It's like, you know, bluegrass is cool, and that stuck, and at least for me, anyways, and so we started building some merch around that and uh just having fun with that. And I don't know, somewhere along the line we started realizing that it was more than merch and that we wanted to help not just get involved in the local Salt Lake music scene, but um also just kind of get a bit more bring bigger and better shows and more opportunities to not just the artists that were there, but the artists that were or that we were wanting and projecting and you know hoping uh would want to start coming to play in Salt Lake. And it's funny, it's uh over over the last year as as we've been growing as a company, we've just kind of noticed that bigger and bigger acts are starting to come to Salt Lake. Not that we've got necessarily a lot to do with that. Now we have helped some come through. Um, but you know, at the end of the day, we've we've been very fortunate to uh be able to make a lot of really awesome connections, including with Bluegrass Roadshow, right? Um this is really fun what you're doing too. And I feel like we kind of started at the same time and have kind of grown together. Um but yeah, that's you know, we're we're having a lot of fun with what we're doing, whether it's helping bands get booked out in Mountain West tours or focusing on our Backyard Bluegrass series that we have on Instagram and YouTube. Um it's just been a really fun endeavor, just bringing us closer and closer to the music that we love.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Heck yeah, that's awesome. Well, I love the bluegrass's cool mantra. And I think uh if any time now, bluegrass is cooler than ever. Um it's really uh making its way out into the mainstream. You're hearing it on the radios, you're seeing other artists and genres kind of dibble and dabble and collaborate with some of these artists. So yeah, bluegrass is cooler than ever. So perfect, perfect uh fitting for that. Um you mentioned being out there in Salt Lake City, and that's actually one of the things I kind of wrote down. Um, what is the bluegrass scene like out there in in Utah? And I guess you know, you talk about its growth over the last year. What have you seen growth-wise for it?

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Oh my gosh. Well, first and foremost, it's an awesome scene we've got in Salt Lake. It's it's really fun to be a part of. Um, there's a great organization called the Trash Moon Collective, and they've been around for several years now. Uh, our friend Melissa Chelinsky now runs it, um, a very extremely talented artist. Holy cow! And the vast number of bands that she's a part of are all very good. Um she's currently on tour out on the East Coast, but nonetheless, um the Trash Moon Collective is a great community, and so they've kind of been the core foundation of the Salt Lake City bluegrass scene, and they put on all kinds of events, whether it's concert series or uh a similar backyard concert series. Actually, ironically, they do jam sessions that bring together a lot of artists. Essentially, they are the glue for the artist community, and then we kind of fill in on like the the media and the promotional side of things, and so it's just been a really fun relationship kind of going back and forth working with Trashman. Um and then, you know, we've got some incredibly talented bands in Salt Lake, and it's been really fun just getting plugged in with them and um you know, our good friends, the pickpockets, we just had them on for a backyard bluegrass session. We're excited to release here soon in the next few weeks. Um so yeah, whether it's it's getting connected with just like the local community itself, and then of course the amazing like fans and people that live in Salt Lake that support, right? Um so there's that side of it, and then there's the amazingly talented um bands that um just over the last years we've been getting connected, we've been throwing shows and we help with their promotional items on socials and just all the things that you know, whether artists like it or not, it's it's we feel it's our responsibility to help promote the bands and the music that we love so that those bands can focus on being artists, right? And um, we've got it in our taglines, we've got it on our website. Our biggest, one of our biggest core beliefs uh in what we're doing at Mo Banjo Co. is just helping artists be artists.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

I love that. I think uh now more than ever, we're living in a time of you know social media and fast paceness, and it's like you've got to stay on the forefront, you've got to stay on people's for you page, you've got to be out there to be seen, to grow. Um, and it's a little different than it happened traditionally. So I love that you're trying to let artists be artists. I think that's really cool because I think that's a big takeaway. If you've got to spend multiple hours a day trying to promote what you're doing, uh that really can take away from practice and just everything in between.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yep, exactly. Yeah, I don't think I've ever rejected or not shared an artist tagging us in something on our page just because I know that it they while they still even probably have bigger followings than we do, hey, we might get five sets of eyes on whatever it is that they're promoting, and maybe that's five extra tickets. Maybe they bring a friend to the show, that's ten extra tickets, right? Like those little things matter because it's all volume based, and you never know. Maybe you've us resharing something helps that band find 10 new fans, right? And that to me is incredibly important.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah, absolutely. No matter, no matter the outreach, big or small, um, new faces are new faces. And I I think that's good, um, especially in a time where it's, you know, everybody uh I mean everybody strives for success, right? I mean, nobody wants to do something and not be successful. But that being said, um, it is a cutthroat industry in the sense that, you know, I I don't want to say competition as much as just everybody's fighting for a spot. You know, there's plenty of spots available, um, but you just gotta get to where that spot is. So um I I think that's pretty cool. I love what you guys got going here already. Um I take it you've been into bluegrass uh for a long time, or or how where's your love for bluegrass come from?

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Um yeah, I I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and went to school at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina, and you know, that's obviously big-time Doc Watson country up there. So the the Appalachian bluegrass roots run deep for us and um have just always carried a love for it. Um and have always, I should say, carried an appreciation for it. I can't say that, you know, I was always into the bluegrass and jam music, but um growing up in North Carolina, and you know, you walk down the street of Boone on King Street and you got Doc Watson statues sitting on the on the uh on the bench there in front of the Mass General store, right? It was always just kind of like a little reminder of like the the foundation and the the impact that obviously, you know, he now he had on bluegrass as a genre in in the evolution site, like um, but just a reminder of you know, hey, we should appreciate this type of music. And um so I would say that you know, I've I've always enjoyed it, always appreciated it, but the real love for bluegrass came probably five, six years ago. I really just started getting into Billy strings as a lot of us do, right? And uh and it kind of a lot of our uh a lot of us that are in the industry now, it seems like have kind of that Billy foundation. Um for me, it was before even Billy was Greensky bluegrass. And um I've talked about this before, but I was at a show, um kind of a last-minute decision. We were living in Chattanooga, Green Sky and the Wood brothers were playing at the Caverns Amphitheater, and uh just on a whim on a Friday night, I decided I my wife was out of town. I just decided, hey, I'm gonna go check Green Sky, right? It was like an hour drive, whatever. We had just gotten a puppy. Uh so yeah, I just decided, hey, let's go. Thank God I did because Green Sky decided to bring out Billy Strings halfway through their set, and that was my first intro into yeah, I had listened to Billy, I had been aware of Billy, I'd watched a lot of YouTube videos, whatever, right? But then seeing him live was just the game changer. I don't think I went to sleep that night, I was just like freaking juiced, you know, like and and that is really where it all began. And uh have seen Billy obviously several times since and Green Sky, of course, but then what really what really started as like the love and the passion was finding up-and-coming bands and being really excited about that. And that's that's really started to evolve here over the past couple of years. And I'd be lying if I said that wasn't like the true core foundation for starting Mo Banjo Co. and um and getting more into like the media side is being able to um you know find and and discover new bands as they're on the rise. And you know, I mentioned Bluegrass Roadshow growing together. It's it's cool to also get connected to bands early on in their days, and we all grow together, right? And help promote them and get them booked on little mini mountain west tours where we're getting them in front of fans that will truly appreciate their music, right? Like, um, so yeah, you know, it it's I guess that's a long way to answer your question, but we just truly love the music and the genre, and um, it's just evolved to all types of different offshoots of the music, but then offshoots of really awesome relationships too. So uh it's been a fun endeavor thus far.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Absolutely, that's awesome. I think I can relate to that very well. I I grew up in Kentucky, um, so it's you know always around bluegrass. I've I've heard it since I was a kid. Um, but always like like you said, always appreciated it. But um, I guess my love for it, same thing, kind of came in the last five or six years, uh, just becoming more of a an adult and getting out there. You you find out what you like and um it sticks. And same thing goes for me. I man, I think the first time I saw Billy, I don't know if I slept that night or not. I believe it was I believe it was Halloween 22 was the first time I saw Billy, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, it was that's a hell of a first one.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Yeah, exactly. I'd been I'd obviously, you know, been a fan for many years, um, but I I moved up to Michigan, so I was way up north um in the middle of nowhere. So it's kind of kind of isolated and hard to get to anything. Um, so when the time finally came, I was like, you know, enough's enough. I'm gonna start getting out there, I'm gonna travel, and I'm gonna go catch some shows. Um and ever since then um I've been hooked. But I grew up down in Kentucky and in the in like the heart of bluegrass country, you know, the bluegrass state. And um it's just uh, I think it's a for all of us that like you said, you growing up in North Carolina, it's an interesting um upbringing to be surrounded by something so much like that. I know, you know, you get down into Tennessee, uh more country, obviously still the bluegrass, but it's like growing up in these areas that are that are so rich in culture based on the music, um, I think just it has a lot to do with just the way people live and operate in those places. Um, and bluegrass is one of those genres, I think, that no matter good or bad, tough times or not, it always kind of seems to bring people together and is you know brings brings us together here today to have this conversation. So it's a wonderful thing that we've got going on, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Right. It's community-based music, it's important. And it it's I remind myself of that all the time. You know, you mention it's it's a cutthroat industry, but you know, the more I dig into this specific genre of music, I find more and more people that are willing to help each other versus you know, take away from uh from others and and bands that want to support each other and um you know, companies and pages and brands and stuff that like ours that you know want to help grow together. I think of my friends Riley and Miller, Grass-Fed Bluegrass, right? Or Cody with What's the Reason for This podcast, Alex with Honey Hole Music. It's like everybody, Matt and Emily with Dome Swap, everybody is just kind of in this like let's help each other grow mentality. And I think that that is a very important thing to to as a foundational piece for how we operate within this industry, right? Like, why shouldn't we all want to grow together? Why shouldn't we all want to support one another? That's the origin of this type of music, right? There's a reason that you trade licks, right, during each individual song. Everybody gets a turn, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

So absolutely. I think, matter of fact, speaking of Matt over there, I think me and him are just talking about something similar over the last couple of weeks is this, you know, in Bluegrass. It's it's you know, not too many other genres have it. I mean, jazz obviously does, um, but it's like the way you you trade back and forth while playing, but also the way these songs have been traded around for so many years. Some of these songs that are played um even by Billy on stage these days, you know, some of these songs are a hundred plus years old going back to their origins. Um, and and obviously that would never trickle down and make it till today if it wasn't passed on knowledge. So I think um everybody just working together, like you said, is is something more prevalent uh that I've seen in this industry than anything else I've been involved with. Um, although it is, I think it's cutthroat in the sense that you know you can only go to so many shows in a month, or uh you can only listen to so many albums at once in the day, right? So it's like fighting for that spot in the frontal lobe, you know, um there's room for everybody. And and like you said, the amount of people that are willing to help each other grow, um, whether it be bands, separate organizations, um, people like you, you know, doing marketing and media. Um I think nobody in in this day and age, it's hard to do anything alone unless you just really got it figured out. So that being said, um, it's it's really cool how how everybody comes together. And I think, you know, um social media is also uh becoming such a massive tool for people to collaborate and for people to get in touch with each other. I mean, um back in the day, you know, it was just wherever you were picking at or whatever you were doing, it was whoever was around you in that room, that's who you knew. But now it's like, hey, this guy's all the way across the country, but we can help each other be more successful. Cool, let's make it happen. Um, we're in this time that's that's really cool and really special. I think um in in all in all terms of history and music, I'm glad that we're alive right now in this moment for Bluegrass. Cannot agree more. I I wanted to ask, I read it down here, but uh where did the inspiration for the Mo banjo name come from? I mean, it just rolls off the tongue perfectly.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

I appreciate that. It's funny because a lot of people, you know, will get like Mojo banjo a lot, or it's like a tongue twister for some folks, but you know, honestly, it was just a simple um uh it just a play on words. I was like, how how can we kind of intertwine the uh a key piece of bluegrass music, the banjo, into a fun, kind of catchy company name, right? And and then it really stuck once the kind of the idea of our logo came about where let's like you know, we kind of take the banjo and then spell banjo in the shape of a banjo. And then the mo the Mo and Co. just kind of fit perfectly above and below. So it was just one of those things uh came to me. It came to me on the same damn hike as Bluegrass is cool, was the original thought process of Mo Banjo Company as well. This was a long ass hike. We were we were out in the deep woods of uh the Central Cascades in Washington, but so you had a lot of time on your yes, yes, absolutely. It's funny how uh inspirational being out in nature can be.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Oh, absolutely. We are we're not meant to just stare and stare at screens all day at home or or work monotonous jobs seven days a week. It's uh it's it's really a beautiful thing when you get outside and you realize, like, man, I've I've been missing this.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

It is. Yep. It's actually incredible. My wife and I were literally having this conversation this past week as we were out on a we we were able to sneak out a little early last week and take a weekday hike, and we just hadn't done it in a while. And I think we both came down just completely rejuvenated, like, wow, the power of the outdoors has struck us both.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

That's something. I love that. And that being said, speaking in the outdoors, your your backyard sessions. Those are obviously going on in the backyard, going on outdoors. You've released five sessions up to this date, right? I've definitely listened to all of those a couple of times. Thank you. And uh Yeah, I'll let you talk about it. I obviously kind of kind of wrote them that wrote them down here. But uh if you want to go through those and just briefly you know chat about those five I would love to hear a little bit more about the how you started that and and how it's been going working with these these five first bands.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah well I you know first and foremost thank you to all of the bands that we've had out uh I quite honestly it's it's the most proud project I think I've ever built because it was you know six months ago seven months ago it was just uh uh an idea and now here we are with five and we've got an awesome one that we filmed with the pickpockets a couple of weeks ago which will be number six um and we're you know currently in the process of booking our fall and spring roster for next year um yeah I just I I could not be more thankful to Pixie and the Party Grass Boys, Raccoon Rodeo, North Fork Crossing, uh The Last Wild Buffalo, and uh of course the 65 North Pickers. We took advantage obviously of having the close proximity to the majority of those bands. North Fork was an opportunity for us. We we were able to book them a show um with the pickpockets at Fisher Brewing and then you know of course capitalize on uh them being in town and doing a session so you know that's literally it like it was it was spawned from okay well how we want to entice bands to play more shows and make Salt Lake more of a mainstay. What's something else aside from just show money and selling tickets and merch at their show that we can do to make Salt Lake more of a desirable place and that's sort of where the backyard bluegrass session was born. You know we we don't live too far from center downtown in which the majority of the Salt Lake venues are um so it's super easy for us to make a session while a band's in town and then they can either head straight to their show or you know sometimes we've we've been able to do it where the band shows up the night before and then go play do a session that night and then goes plays the next night. Yeah, you know it's just capitalizing on those opportunities. You know we're always looking to book of course but um yeah it's it's funny that the true origin of the Backyard Bluegrass series was like we've got this beautiful it's like a 30, 40 foot sequoia tree in the middle of our backyard. You know when my wife and I first got to the property and we walked through and you look through the big glass window off the back of the house and you just see this tree like holy cow we were mesmerized and I swear we bought the house for that tree. And um it's just been really cool to you know over the last six months since we've been doing this we we didn't open up the first few of them um to an audience and we've only opened up really the last two to an audience and that's been a really fun addition because it's allowed us to introduce things like applause and clapping and um and and really also just like giving the artists a uh an audience right like they play in front of an audience and when they play their best shows they're in front of an audience so we want them to have that feeling. If they screw up three quarters of the way through the song well hey just you know cut and we'll refilm and you just pick right back up, right? It's a live recording but it also gives them kind of that comfortability we tell every artist that comes through um that we want this to be the least stressful show that they play all year. And I feel like it has been it's just a fun time. We've um we're in we're we're engaging in between songs, you know the pickpockets are they were taking requests there at the end. We got we got some fun ones uh on the on the horizon with them so a few surprises um but you know like the 65 North Pickers that was the first like big crowd that we had um for one of our sessions and it's it's just becoming a true community event right um we're having big we invite like all of our local bands a lot of the local artists we've we've got several companies uh and and brands that are around town that you know we invite out as well and so it's just truly we're just forming this this Salt Lake community that has existed and we're just continuing to you know fuse the medals um yeah it's been it's been a really fun endeavor this far and um you know for me personally I'm just getting the opportunity to watch some of my favorite bands come out and play a live show in my backyard where I get to walk 50 steps and you know go sleep in my own bed. So what cooler experience is there than that.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

I think you figured it out right there. That's that's the selling point.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Exactly yeah yeah but it's it it has truly been uh one of the proudest things that I've accomplished and you know the cool thing about that is that we're just getting started.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah absolutely I mean um five five's a good number five's a good a good turning point you know whether it's year five for a festival or or the fifth production you've done I think you're you're obviously starting to get your bearings. I've noticed growth all across of watching the first five sessions. This last 65 North session was really on point. I like the production um all the camera angles everything looks good on that. And I do like uh you mentioned like just recently adding the addition of the crowd. I think it's pretty nice. I think it gives you kind of that um like old school talk show kind of feeling where you can't see the crowd but you can hear them reacting. That being said is this uh just kind of like strictly invite only for the local community and you're just assembling the right people to be in this space that that uh you think need to be there to collaborate or deserve to be there in that moment?

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Um you know it is it it well to answer the first question it is technically a private invite thing um but you know we as we've done over the single year of business of Mo Banjo Co we roll and and shake with the different things that come our way so uh you know who knows hopefully we're at we are at a point where there's a high enough demand people reaching out where we could perhaps entertain selling tickets and you know obviously that goes back to the band. But yeah, you know it it's less of a you've earned the right to be here type of thing and more of a you know hey we're connected through our community um and we just want everybody to support everybody. So everybody that's there is is is an artist. You know we've had Gregory Mountain Packs who have become a great sponsor of ours uh they're there in attendance Snowbird Mountain Resort there in attendance um the Jackrabbit Lounge down in Provo there in attendance along with you know of course we're inviting all of our friends and venues and stuff like that like around the city. So um and then like all the bands and and everything that we're we've become friends with over the last year. So it's it's truly like invite it's it's private it's invite but it's not like an earn thing. It's uh hey you're part of the community so come experience this right and if you're a band that hasn't done this yet well come check this out because we want you to be up on the the stage um someday right and that's cool. Yeah yeah so it's just been a really fun um of just you know again bringing the community together.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Absolutely it's it's still it seems like it's a bit more of a um networking moment for some of these people to kind of to kind of get there shake each other's hands and know who everybody is in this community. I love that I think as we were talking about as as big and wide as the internet is these days uh it's still very important to know who your neighbors are and to uh make sure that you can love on them and help them in any way you can yep exactly yeah it's funny I know more of my bluegrass neighbors in Salt Lake than I do my actual neighbors that's the way that's the way it goes. Well maybe some of those uh neighbors close by will will hear the tunes and want to pop over sometime. Oh it's happened yeah and of course they're invited uh it is funny that we've had um just about every occasion a different neighbor come by saying hey we heard the music it sounds great come on in that's an adult right yep exactly very cool I had the chance to uh listen to the Norfolk crossing episode and I know me and you last time we talked kind of talked about that how you had to pivot and and bring that out of the backyard indoors um I love the chance I got to sit down and talk with those guys um but it's really cool to to see um see their growth here over this last year um and get down there um it seems like I've been noticing Salt Lake City kind of popping up more on tour schedules than than 2025. So it's it's cool to see it's cool to see a scene out there. You know we obviously have these places like Nashville or Denver or Asheville or wherever um but you think about these other cities I mean Salt Lake City obviously is very much populated so there's there's room for a bluegrass scene there.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

100% yeah and you know it when kind of back to the beginning when talking about this recognizing that you know Salt Lake has been kind of the the pass-through city if you will right and yeah it is kind of far from other larger cities but and it there's obviously the corridor and whatever but um yeah it's it's a really proud moment to see Salt Lake starting to get more and more recognized and and booked as a as a tour destination and we just want to continue improving that right and um and then soon you know hopefully we're competing with our neighbors to the east in Denver and Colorado and um you know it's but it's not competition it's helping in one another right and we just you know it we look at it from a perspective of why not us, right? Like why can't we have just as good of shows as Denver and weekends built around bluegrass and multiple festivals and you know more towns sprouting their uh their music festivals and bluegrass festivals and stuff like that and and it's starting to come around and I you know I I feel like I don't know how much of a significant uh role we've played in that but I do feel like just the general um the general positivity towards the community is really starting to continue to build and it's trending positively and um yeah it's just a really awesome time to be in Utah in broader Salt Lake and uh being being a part of this this music scene that's awesome man.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

I love that that you are uh making your guys' own lane out there and you're doing what you can to to help out. That's that's what we're all here to do. Much appreciated and uh I I've listened to it multiple times. I can't even count at this point but that 65 North Pickers live session is it's so good. You know obviously we love the pickers out here. I'm from Kentucky uh they're down in the Lexington area um any chance I can see them we can see them it's it's great and I love what they got going on there.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Um and I think you did a did a very great job of capturing uh their sound and their image well I really appreciate you saying that yeah that uh 65 was just from like an overall production standpoint I think it was uh we figured out a lot of uh of of things along the way and it all kind of culminated into that 65 sub you know our lives are made easy by extremely talented bands and everybody we've had out is incredibly incredibly talented it's just been so awesome to watch 65 grow and you know through over the past year or so um I think I remember coming across their page right kind of when we got started and um it's like holy cow who are these kids and I can call them kids because I'm 32 and you know Q's 19 and the rest of the band's in their early 20s. I just I I was just blown away at just how talented and then you find out you know they've only been a band for a little over a year. And then you know they they come out and it was it was really fortunate we were able to spend a good amount of time with them you know outside of the session and then it was a great opportunity. We we were able to um get them a show booked with Theoretical Blonde one of our awesome local bands and uh they played at a venue in Salt Lake so it was kind of what we talked about earlier 65 session. They actually crashed with us both nights which was a really fun opportunity just to get to know them a bit and hang. So yeah it was like a Wednesday night 65 session and then the next night Thursday night they played with theoretical blonde and you know you get to hang out with a band like that and I I swear and I told them this they like they're so tight they have they speak in their own language. Like I we went to lunch and I took them hiking the uh that Thursday before the show and we're riding around I'm like what the hell are you guys even saying they're just like speaking in this you know they're just that's who they are they're tight and it's so cool uh it was it was such a cool thing to witness not such a not only such a talented band and and talented group of musicians individually um but then just to see how they operate outside of you know being up on stage being in the limelight um how they support one another and you know really love one another as a as a person you know like brothers and sisters right so yeah it's been really cool to watch their journey over the last year and you know again growing together it's I feel like as we've kind of grown our brand we've really kind of been uh you know watching the evolution of 65 and yeah I I think so highly of that band I from the get go. I could not be more proud of what they're doing. Could not love their music more. They're literally one of my favorite bands out there and um it's just cool to to see a band so young and thriving. But then you know also too just so willing to give back to the community. They they are just generous nice solid at their core people and um you know outside of just being incredibly talented musicians I think that you know that type of mentality towards others and just staying humble is what's going to take them to that next level and um not that they're already there not that they can get there off the music alone but there's just nothing in my mind better than being able to see extremely peak level talent combined with just human generosity to the degree um there's nobody that you know there's there's very few bands out there that deserve to uh you know have that level of success and I think 65 North Pickers is right there.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Absolutely I I thank you hit the nail on the head with all of that we we love them that their evolution alone over the last year or so um their their traject three is huge. And then like you talked about you know um they're they're all so so young and the way they're they've came together you know uh through social media Q getting in there uh with Jake and Nate and then Tally joining joining on um to play some shows and then you know becoming a full member of the band. I think it's uh it's such a cool thing to see it all kind of come together naturally and it's it's really rewarding um to everybody involved when the right people come together like that. You know, us as as listeners of the music, you know, we wouldn't be able to enjoy that if they didn't have that synchronosity, if they didn't have that relationship with each other. So I think it's it's really awesome and really special to see some talent like that um at such a young age. And you know just going back to the the power of the internet it's like man now more than ever is just the time to grow and the time for um people to be broadcast out there and put in front of others. It's just really cool to see that all happening and I'm glad you got to uh capture them perfectly and get to and spend some time with them out there. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

Well I really appreciate that and I'll I'll I will say this because uh I'd be remiss if I didn't you know while Backyard Bluegrass is is part of what Mo Banjo Co. does and I would be nothing we would be nothing without uh my business partner Paul and our sound engineer Bryant I mean they are truly what brings it to life and um you know Brian's been there since day one and if you go back and watch the original videos of Pixie and the party dress boys we're gonna have you back out I promise um the the production just wasn't there but the sound was right sure and so then the uh Paul came along for volume two raccoon rodeo and that's really when everything changed right for for us as a shifting to from just like marketing and figuring it out to okay we're a legit we want to be a legit media company um was the addition of Paul not only as a business partner but as an extremely talented videographer and photographer. We do the backyard sessions but we really built a lot of really strong relationships I think with like shooting live shows and events and um we were able to jump into the uh the art and music festival a few months ago and be a part of like their social media and media and um yeah it was just you know it's it's just uh we would be nothing without those two so super appreciative of those two as well.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Heck yeah well shout it out to them and that was a perfect intro for a question that I had written down um was kind of how do you go about this backyard setup? Um what kind of technical difficulties are you guys facing out there? And uh yeah just tell me a little bit more about it. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Sure. Well you know the it is an extreme well I say this as the very non-technical guy right so this is a better question for this is the better question for Bryant and Paul. I'm just the I plant the flowers and post the stuff that they make on social media but um you know for from the technical side and I'm really proud of this and it was kind of the vision all along Bryant and Paul have their systems so dialed in that Bryant you know and actually this is proof in the put in on our last recording with pickpockets so the sixth endeavor Bryant was literally able to take the session recording and process it and master it that night right so like we're we're pretty dialed in as far as the overall like production and being as minimalistic as possible with their technology setups and the whole intent is look hey you know 65 North Pickers pickpockets hey band come play a backyard session um we're 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake in about 90 minutes we can rip you five to six song and um in good solid video and audio recordings and then you guys can head right on back uh and either play your set or hang and play your set tomorrow night. It's just like super minimally invasive. We just want the artists to be able to show up with their instruments and that's it. Right now we're single can, dual mic type deal um but and so the recordings we we're not micing up each individual instrument um but and then the lighting is just kind of the natural lighting we've kind of figured out you know an hour or two before sunset is kind of like the ideal time frame but it is we want to stay minimal we don't want to go for this crazy major production. We don't feel like that's where the value lies right the value lies and we're creating a great and fast efficient product for artists that they can come in and feel comfortable uh recording with us and you know hang out for a beer afterwards or in between and stay for some pizza or you know head off to the show because it only takes about two hours round trip to to come on down to um get a backyard session done. So yeah it it is a super um super non intensive way of uh of getting it done which I hope and I've from what I've been told from the other artists is that they really do appreciate that. That it's you know it's it's simple. It's um I I think where we're getting the best bang for our buck which is important to to me as as a business owner but I feel like also extremely important to the artists who um we don't want them to feel like they're under any pressure to perform or do anything crazy, right? Like just calm and play like you're playing in your backyard because that's the intent.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Absolutely. Well, the old the old famous saying, time is money. So I love that. If people want to, you can get them in and get them out of there, or they can stay and hang for as long as they'd like. Exactly. That's all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

It's really cool. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah. I mean, it's hey, again, it's roots music, right? It's community-based music, and we want those artists that come, especially the ones that come and visit us from out of town that they like to write at home, not just with uh our production and hanging out with our Mo Banjo co-team, but hanging out with uh our fans of the music and our different artists that are there behind the camera cheering them on.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Yeah, that is that's really something special you got going on. You've been talking about the pickpockets, you got that coming up for our for a number six. Um super excited. You want to tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 45:03

Well, I mean, first of all, we just love those guys. I mean, Alec, Jake, Dante, Aiden are just the best. And um, you know, it's funny, I I was probably bugging the hell out of Dante early on when I first got his number and was trying to help him out with any videos or recordings or whatever I could do, right? Uh, we were just trying to build those relationships, and I feel like now it's kind of come into full fruition, and um we're just so supportive of the pickpockets. And really, it's all of our bands in Salt Lake City. I I know I named Raccoon and Pixie, uh, Theoretical Blonde, the Wasatch Valley Drifters, um Amy Sisman and The Sisman, who is a really fun up-and-coming band born out of the Trash Moon collective that I mentioned earlier. Um, yeah, so you know, it's we're we're really just building our community. Um, but at the core of that is the pickpockets, and have been a fan of theirs since day one, moving to Salt Lake. Um, go to just about every pickpocket show that there is around Salt Lake and and broader. And, you know, it's it's cool to see a band just like ha the city has their back, right? Um and it only takes one pickpocket show, and I feel like this applies across the board to Bluegrass, but man, you don't have to be a fan of bluegrass music to go to a pickpocket show, and you see Jake swapping between electric and acoustic guitars, and Alec just absolutely sawing that fiddle. It you're in Dante up there jamming the head, or maybe it's an eight and two-minute long bass solo in the middle of a song, but um, you know, it's it we just love and support the hell out of those guys, and um, you know, that's the feeling is mutual. I think that they feel quite the same about us, at least I hope so. And uh and they're always you know, we're always just supporting them and and supporting one another. There I don't think there's ever been anything that, you know, Dante's posted or tagged us in or whatever on on their Instagram account that we don't um that we don't, you know, immediately approve and we help them land shows not just around Salt Lake but broader and um you know, just for for nothing other than just supporting the community, right? And um we're we're proud to we're proud to claim them as Salt Lakers, even though they've been here far before we were uh started and uh and in Salt Lake, but um yeah, just to just just love that band and um you know it's funny talk we're talking about 65 and the pickpock, it's like the two literally of my favorite bands and um just what a cool thing it was to have them in the backyard too. So we're excited for that project. I I think everybody's gonna dig.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

Absolutely. I love that the city of Salt Lake and the state of Utah is is riding uh for those guys. I know from afar out here in the Midwest, I love listening to them. I love seeing the media that you repost as well as everything they put out there. Um and you mentioned that that element of switching back and forth between electric and acoustic. Um something I think is very special. You know, obviously bluegrass music at its core is acoustic string band music. Um, but we talk about, you know, the use of uh pedals and and um adaptations that that we have today that we didn't have years ago. It's it's basically, you know, no, it's basically turning that acoustic guitar into an electric guitar, you know, uh in in some kind of sense. So so I think having those abilities, it's like, well, we can we can let some electric instruments uh on stage and jam some bluegrass, you know. Um I'm a huge fan of the Clay Street unit. Uh absolutely love those guys. And every time I see them, it kind of blows my mind. They're every one of them, it it seems like maybe besides the drummer and the pedal steel, obviously, but even pedal gets up and does some other things. Um but it's like those cats all have multiple instruments that they're picking up and swapping back and forth. They've got the electric banjo and electric mandolin. Um, you talk about adding some of these elements to bluegrass, you know, I guess we can call it new grass, right? Um it's really special and it's really cool.

SPEAKER_00 49:22

Yep. Yeah, it sure is. And you know, it's funny, it's it used to be, I feel like bluegrass bands having to go out of their way to kind of play more like modern alternative, whatever types of music. And I I don't know if you've seen this, but I've started to see more alternative-based rooted bands try to get into more bluegrass rooted music. And I think that that just speaks volumes of where the genre of music is is currently and is headed for the future. And I think it's all due to what you mentioned, like the versatility of the technology backing these instruments. And I look, I'm a non-musician, right? I'm a non-photographer, non-sound guy, I'm a uh uh dot connector type of guy, but I I could certainly appreciate the hell out of this music. And yeah, to your point, it's like the evolution of the technology is just so insane and so versatile, and um, yeah, just the the sound just keeps getting better and better. Seems like not even year after year, it's like month after month. It's you know, what new what new musician out there did this, and now it's blowing up on social media, and so all the other bands are like, holy shit, I need we need to incorporate that, right? Um it's it's the power of this really tight-knit community too. I feel like uh everybody trying to it's like little rivalries too, which are good. I think it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

Absolutely. You gotta have those little rivalries to keep things going. I think it's really um, we're really obviously seeing it as we've been talking about this whole episode, just the evolution of bluegrass and where it's came over the last few years. But I mean, looking in the last like decade or two as a whole of of bluegrass and traditional music, um, you know, there there's great big acts that have that have came through and kind of dibbled and dabbled in that sound, like the Avit Brothers and Mumford and Sons and some of these, you know, more folky or or maybe even alternative rock, however you want to look at um these different bands, all kind of uh play around with this traditional string band sound. Um and it and and then on now on the flip side, I think we have bluegrass who are playing with the other sounds now, right? We're talking about the implements of all these instruments and all these tools. Um, you know, you've got 65 covering all kinds of stuff during their shows. Same thing goes with Billy and many others. Um, it's like uh the the horizons are broadening, people are are dibbling and dabbling into different unique things out there. Um, and I think it's just a really cool, special moment to see all of that happening in real time.

SPEAKER_00 52:05

Couldn't agree more. All it took was Billy playing with widespread and the rest was history.

SPEAKER_01 52:10

Yeah, I mean, one of many. And and speaking of widespread, 65 does some some real good widespread songs. So it just goes to show, right? Uh we might be a traditional bluegrass band, um, but the capability that most of these cats have nowadays is is mind-boggling to me. Um, you know, I'm I'm no talented musician myself. I love to try and play music, but it doesn't sound very good. Uh that being said, I think it's um it's really unique how all of this has come together. Um and and also looking at the fan bases, right? There's a lot of crossover happening right now. Um and and you're seeing you're seeing um bluegrass acts getting put on festivals, you know, large festivals, uh, whether it be Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza um or or any of these things. It's like these bluegrass acts are now like headlining some of these places.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

Exactly. Look, I mean, look at look at Mountain Grass Unit at um at Bonnaroo playing with Kesha. I mean, what is that's crazy, right? Like who would have ever thought that? And then shout out shout out to my friends, uh, Zoo Town Music Festival in Missoula, Montana, and our friends hunter, um, the North Fort Crossing boys. I mean, going out and playing, they held it down for us bluegrassers. They were the only bluegrassers on the uh on the festival lineup and shredded. And I saw videos from that from their uh from their set at Zootown a couple weeks ago, and it was awesome. Just seemed like the crowd was just loving.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

I got the chance to to briefly chat with them about that as an upcoming show. Um, and honestly, it made me so happy to see their name on that bill um with all of those other bands, right? It's like um they they were really the only like traditional bluegrass act on there. Um, and that just goes to show that that bluegrass is selling, bluegrass is hot, and most importantly, bluegrass is cool, right? I am exactly. Heck yeah. Well, I know we talked about the pickpockets coming up, but what else can we uh expect to see from Mo Banjo Co. in the next uh in coming year?

SPEAKER_00 54:31

Yeah, well, um we've got a lot just in the hopper right now, a lot of different ideas. I you know, I my two business partners, uh Paul and Rob, they've always got to talk me off a ledge because I'm the idea guy and I just bring a million different ideas. Um you know, but uh we ultimately um we're we're staying put with our backyard bluegrass sessions. That is absolutely something that we're just gonna continue to uh grow and evolve from. Um we're actively booking our next year's lineup. You know, we we're we're trying to build where we shoot kind of in like a two two to three month windows, um, because it can get very hot in Salt Lake uh this time of year through August. So, and then it's uh obviously, you know, the winter we tried to shoot our our friends Raccoon Rodeo. They did a great job, but it was taking about ten minutes between each song to warm up the fingers, but shout out Pete on the banjo. But um That made for some great aesthetics though. Well, thank you, yeah. Shout out uh solo stuff, sponsor us, please. We'd love to talk. Um but yeah, no, so you obviously Dakar Bluegrass is a mainstay, and um any bands that are interested, please just reach out. We'd love to get you booked for a session, we'd love to get you um a second night for a show in Salt Lake. Um outside of that, it's it's just continuing to build relationships, right? We're we're helping bands actually now start to book um Mountain West tours and just get connected with some of the connections we've been able to build. Um and so that's actually been a really fun process bringing that into our repertoire. Um And then, you know, outside of that, it's just kind of we we take opportunities as they come. We we love being affiliated with different opportunities, whether it's festivals or even just one-off live shows. Um and you know, we're we're just continuing to build relationships. We've we've got a few things in the hopper that are exciting ideas um around festivals and maybe even like kind of brick and mortar opportunities. Um and uh, you know, shout out to our friend McCl Macklin uh from Strings Theory, who just moved to um Park City as well. He's been a really fun addition to our Salt Lake, uh, Utah, broader Utah, um, bluegrass and folk music uh and jam bands, I should say, um uh community um because he he's got a great following. He's got a great love for the music as well. And so he was uh he was an instant spark in a in a great ad.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

Um not sure if you're familiar with strings theory yet, but Macklin is the man and uh the last month the last I would say two to three months, um he's been on my feed, or I should say his page has been on my feed um quite a bit, and I and I enjoy seeing what all uh they're working on and putting out over there.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

Good. Yeah, he's he's a great person and uh true lover of the music and uh has the same goals in mind, support community first and figure it out, figure out the rest along the way. But yeah, you know, we've we've had a lot of fun conversations about the future of the music industry and and the scene overall. And you know, I say Salt Lake, but it applies to Park City, to Logan, to to Provo. Um it's it's a really awesome uh community that we're just continuing to build on. It's been there all along, and I think that you know we're just continuing to shed light on it and appreciative of all the opportunities that everybody's given us thus far.

SPEAKER_01 58:19

Heck yeah, that's awesome. Well, hopefully we can uh I'm we can make it out west sometime and uh check the guys out out there and visit.

SPEAKER_00 58:27

Come on, yeah. You know, we're uh I don't I don't know how far off we are from having our own little festival, but you know that's that's gonna be in the works here soon.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Absolutely. Well, as that comes about, you let us know how we can support. I'd love to cover the event, so you let me know when it is and I'll be there.

SPEAKER_00 58:45

Absolutely, yeah. Thank you. We'd love to have you.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

And I think I saw you say uh something recently online about coming out to Billy soon, out coming out east, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

Yeah, absolutely. We'll well we'll be at Billy Wien. Are you gonna be we'll be at Billy Ween. Let's go. Let's go. There is a huge contingent. So we're gonna have we're gonna have some fun. Um yeah, we'll gosh, let's make sure that we get a a picture of like the the all these brands and and businesses that are out there too, everybody um supporting all these bands and artists that we love, but we should make sure to get a picture because I think just about all of us are gonna be a Billy Wien this year. We're excited. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

I know there's there's a lot of uh events brewing up um for that whole weekend going on in the city. So um it's always a great opportunity. You know, I I think Billy uh obviously he's doing his nationwide touring, worldwide touring at this point. Um, but you know, there's a few cornerstone events that that Billy does that I think brings everybody together and and Halloween is one of those special places, no matter no matter the location, um, it's always a really unique time. I've gotten the chance to catch, I believe, three Billy Ween shows now. Um and yeah, I mean, you want to talk about production, uh, and and honestly, I think that's what that's what really was like, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna check this guy out even more. Because I was always a fan of him, but the moment that I saw him um bring out, I would I don't even know what it was, maybe 10 or 12 at least different guest artists. Everybody from Lindsay Lou to Chris Pandolphi, um, you name it, you know, the greats are all there. And I think that's what really did it for me. Is like, man, if you're only gonna make it to one concert in a year, you might as well make it to Billy Wien because you're gonna see more bluegrass artists there than some of these festivals, even.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

Right. Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah, uh, we're unbelievably excited. We've been uh I don't know how many Billy shows, but this will be our first Billy Ween and can't wait. Can't wait to meet you in person, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

Yeah, this will be great. As uh we'll we'll uh have to do some off you know off-camera uh brainstorming and think about some cool ideas we can uh do maybe some little collaboration or something for that week and have some fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

Yes, we do, yeah. The possibilities are endless with that one. They truly are, they really are.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

Well, Riley, I appreciate you coming through today. I don't want to take up too much of your evening. Um, we'll start wrapping it up. Um, how can people find you out there? And then also the the number one thing I like to think about is what is the best way someone can support you?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

Wow. Well, um, you know, I I think the biggest thing right now, support-wise, would be just following us on YouTube and Instagram. Both handles are at Mobanjo Co. Um, we are actually in the process of revamping our website. Hopefully that's launched this week. So by the time this airs, um, we'll have a new refreshed website that we're really excited about as well, which that's mobanjo.co. Um so yeah, you know, just supporting us. And honestly, the biggest thing for us, uh, if you're an artist that is even on the fence, you know, hey, should we do we need more content, whatever, just reach out. We're we're happy to help facilitate um, you know, at least at very minimum, uh Salt Lake show or two, along with getting you on the Backyard Bluegrass series. Um supporting that helps support us um in supporting supporting artists and helping artists be artists, right? Um we do we do keep that completely free. I guess I should have mentioned that at the top. Our Backyard Bluegrass series is 100% free to the artists um and free now to the community as well that attends. And so the biggest thing for us is, you know, um as as this evolves, we've we've got to so that we can continue to do this. Um we are exploring sponsorship opportunities. Um so you know, brands out there and companies that are uh interested in getting their names slapped on our videos or partnering on collaboration items and stuff like that. Um we're absolutely game for it. And uh so you know, shoot us uh shoot me an email, Riley at Mobanjo.co, and we can chat about that too. Um that way we can continue keeping this fun backyard series free for the artists, free for the community, and um and you know, hopefully all pages grow together.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

Absolutely. I love that. I think uh more than ever, you know, it's not it's not a time to uh get rich by any means, but it's a time to be sustainable and find your lane and find what works for you and your your core group as well as your brand, your business. Um, and and just being able to sustain right now and have longevity, I think, is the most important thing. So um glad to see you're focused on all of the right things there.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:47

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

I hope uh I hope this this little conversation we were able to have here today, like we talked about earlier, if it even if it just brings five to ten, you know, new faces uh to the Mo Banjo Co. uh idea, that that would make me more than happy. So um cheers, Riley. I really appreciate you for your time today. Um and look forward to chatting with you some more.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:12

Yeah, absolutely. Hunter, thank you so much for having me, man. This is a blast. I could have kept going another half an hour, but no, we're gonna really it really.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

I was gonna say we're gonna do it again. We're gonna do it again real soon. Let's uh let's circle back, you know. Um, touching on the bluegrass roads show a little bit, uh, this idea is like you said with Mo Banjo, you know, it's always growing, it's always something that's in the works. Um But I would love to, you know, have you back on and we can circle back and have a deeper conversation. Um I like kind of assembling, uh, I like to say we're assembling the Avengers right now. You know, we're bringing all the right people together that need to work with each other. Um, so so if me and you can, you know, tap in with each other and and have a recorded conversation here for the people every three to six months. I like to uh think about what I have going on here um with this specific audio recordings as more of like a um a talk show than uh your typical podcast in the sense that um I want it to be able to get out there to listeners, um, but also you know have re returning guests and some topics that we can discuss on. Um obviously, you know, this is a a little bit more of an interview, a little uh Mo Banjo co intro to the Bluegrass Road show world. Um but I but I like the the idea of just being able to uh sit down every so often uh with good like-minded people and and having you guys on. So uh we'll definitely be chatting again and and the public will be hearing from us uh together again real soon.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:40

Love it, Hunter. Thank you so much for having me, man. I look forward to coming back on and chatting some more. I would love to do this uh as often as you want to have me on.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

Sounds good. We'll make it a thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:51

Sounds good, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:53

Have a blessed evening.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:54

Yeah, man, you too.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Well, folks, that's gonna do it for today's episode of the Bluegrass Roadshow. If you've made it this far, we appreciate you sticking around and listening to the whole thing, and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. I just want to thank Riley for sitting down and giving us a couple hours of his time and telling us what Mobanjo Co is really all about. It truly is refreshing to see such avid and eager faces in the bluegrass scene who care about it as much as we do. If you haven't already, please go check out his Instagram and YouTube at Mobanjo Co. as they have a new session dropping with the pickpockets real soon that you'll definitely will not want to miss. Also, be sure to check out their website, mobanjo.co, where you can check out their merch and see updates on upcoming sessions, as well as shows in the Northwest and so much more. Also, stay tuned for our next internal episode, breaking down my experience at Ron Bluegrass Festival back in June and what it was like to get behind the scenes and capture some awesome media for them. One last reminder if you haven't done it yet, please go to our website and subscribe to the mailing list, as this is the biggest way you can support us. Lastly, a special shout out goes to Jake McNulti for crushing out this intro outro too. Make sure you go check him out on Instagram at Jake Commando. And better yet, go out there and catch a show. That's a very happy website. We'll see y'all next time.